History & Politics

Biography is not the same as history. Biography charts the outer and inner life of a person—character, spirit, morality, emotion, perhaps even soul. History, by contrast, incorporates different narratives and pieces of evidence, seeks out new data, then rises above all the fragments with a synthesis.

News flash: Top-secret intelligence memos written during the last years of the Bush administration describe covert activities—in intelligence parlance, a "false flag" operation—by Israeli Mossad officers, posing as American CIA agents.

Suddenly, it seems, gender segregation is everywhere in Israel—buses, army bases, Jerusalem sidewalks, Beit Shemesh schoolyards and, above all, the front pages. What is going on here? Why is all this happening now? Let's begin with the second question.

Some saw history in the making. With jubilation and fanfare Fatah and Hamas agreed last spring in Cairo to form an interim technocratic administration, hold parliamentary and presidential elections by May 2012 and, ultimately, to establish a national unity government.

From the southern end of the plaza in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a temporary wooden bridge ascends eastward to the Mughrabi Gate, the only one of the 11 gates into the Temple Mount area that is accessible to non-Muslims.

At this year's yahrzeit ceremony in Sde Boker for David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Iran clearly on his mind, emphasized—eight times—Ben-Gurion's capacity for making hard decisions.

Israel Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, equivalent to the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, recently called the Court's critics in the Knesset "robed Cossacks" waging a "campaign of delegitimation" and "incitement."

There is no love lost between the British Foreign Office and Israel. In a report to parliament last month, Foreign Minister William Hague condemned Israel for building in Jerusalem, being in the West Bank, and treating the present Gaza regime like the enemy it is.

The conventional wisdom in diplomatic and media circles concerning the Israeli-Arab conflict is that Israeli intransigence—especially on the building of West Bank settlements—is the dead weight that prevents the achievement of a two-state solution.

From The White Rose . . .Jud Newborn, JTA. Sophie and Hans Scholl, who led Germany’s only Nazi-era public protest against Hitler and the Holocaust, were executed 70 years ago this month. But in Germany, their legacy lives on.

. . . To The Black RosePalash R. Ghosh, International Business Times. In 1904 the townsfolk of Limerick, Ireland, boycotted Jewish businesses and forced the town’s 150 Jews to leave. As late as 1970, the town’s mayor defended the action.

Taking the Jewish Vote for GrantedJonathan Sarna, Tablet. After General Grant expelled Jews from the territory under his command during the American Civil War, Jews were expected to unite against his presidential candidacy in 1868. But did they?

Putting a Price on PhilanthropyDaniel Pipes, Philanthropy Daily. As university faculties become increasingly hostile to Israel, Jewish philanthropists who want to give Zionism a voice on campus need a better strategy. Here is one idea.

Anti-Judaism: A Western TraditionAdam Kirsch, Tablet. “Anti-Judaism,” says David Nirenberg, is not an “archaic or irrational closet in the vast edifices of Western thought” but “one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.”

Jewish ArmeniaAnna Borschevskaya, Jerusalem Post. Only in 1996 did the discovery of a cemetery provide evidence of Jews in pre-modern Armenia. But new research shows that Armenia was a safe haven for Jews during the Mongol invasion.

Masada’s Unscorched EarthEhud Netzer, Biblical Archeology Review. Josephus records that Masada’s Jewish defenders set it ablaze before the Romans broke in. But the archeological evidence shows a more sophisticated, though futile, defense strategy.

What Is Hungary Hiding?Bill Gladstone, BillGladstone.ca. An expert at Yad Vashem is convinced that a massive trove of documents on Austro-Hungarian Jews lies hidden in Budapest's state archives—and he’s determined to gain access to it.

The Truth About CrucifixionHershel Shanks, Bible History Daily. New analysis of the only remains of a crucified man, discovered in Jerusalem, suggests that victims were not nailed to the cross but tied to it. Either way, death was by asphyxiation.